Touch of Psycho

As I watched it, I noticed that ending of Psycho is very similar to the ending of Touch of Evil. Norman was very similar in character to Quinlan, but in a more psychotic way. I could tell early on in the movie that Norman wasn't normal, something was wrong with him. He had a look in his face that just didn't look right; it would be accurate to say that he had a few screws loose in his head. Towards the end of the film, his character began to come out even more. Sam, a former lover of Marion, and Lila, Marion's sister, went to the Bates Motel to investigate Marion's disappearance. All signs were pointing to Marion being at this place, and Norman's suspicious behavior certainly didn't turn anyone's eyes away. In my previous post, I discussed how terrible of a liar he was: he said one thing, and then the evidence that the detective found said another. It was clear that he was hiding something, and it was definitely something significant. 

This same strange behavior took place when he dealt with Sam and Lila. They asked to check into a cabin. Usually, guests have to sign a register, but Norman, knowing that Marion's name was on it, hesitated to hand it over to Sam. After a few tense minutes, Sam and Lila made their way to Cabin 10, where they were assigned. Norman wanted to keep them as far away as possible from Cabin 1, where he killed Marion. But shortly after he walked away, Sam and Lila went over to that cabin. They looked around, and Lila saw a piece of paper with "$40,000" written on it. This definitely was her sister's cabin. 

The two split up: Lila heads towards Norman's mother's house, and Sam pries at Norman to try to find out where the money went. His mother's house had an eerie feeling to it, all the way from the entrance, to the second floor, to the basement. The camera panned to show creepy dolls and figurines. In the basement was the corpse of Norman's mother, who from behind looked completely normal, complete with a wig. 

And if you thought that was freaky, just wait until the last part of the movie. Norman is locked up in a cell, where it is revealed that he is two people at once: himself, and his mother. However, his mother's personality has taken over his, or something like that. It's kind of confusing, and extremely disturbing. I can see where this movie gets its name. 

Aside from the bizarre ending, this movie reminded me a lot of Touch of Evil. In both movies, justice is served at the end, however not all was perfect. People ended up dying, it was too late for them to be revived, unfortunately. Even though Norman was locked up, the damage was already done. $40,000 were lost, and Marion was dead.